| As someone who writes for a living, I often say that there are two components to being a passable writer: a technical understanding of syntax, and exposure to the written word. Syntax can be taught. When I was in school, I was taught sentence diagramming [1]. Learning to diagram sentences is akin to learning how to compute mathematical equations. At some point, teachers stopped teaching sentence diagramming (I suspect because it was too onerous on English teachers to effectively teach, and because it was too technically difficult for the lower end of students to learn). My wife, for example, who is vastly smarter than me, was never taught diagramming. Consequently her knowledge of English syntax is much worse than mine. Exposure can’t be taught. You have to read and continue reading. The more someone reads, the broader their exposure. Reading is the best way to increase your vocabulary and learn about different use cases for words. The best writers are avid readers.[2] If we want to create a generation of better writers we should restructure our English classes. More sentence diagramming and more assigned reading. My guess is there isn’t really an appetite to make English more rigorous. Unlike math, where there are different levels of math offered in school, English is pretty much one-size-fits-all until college. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_diagram [2]: I’m not suggesting that I’m among the best writers, and I disclaim any errors on this social media post. Even people paid to write can and do make dumb mistakes. That’s why God created editors. |